Trader Joe's Gets Sued Over Peanut Butter Pretzels

Peanut butter pretzels are one of the better snack
inventions to ever grace supermarket shelves. But according to NPR's food blog,
The Salt, Trader Joe's is currently twisted like a pretzel over the
popular munchies.

Maxim Marketing is suing Trader Joe's over the chain's PB Pretzels.
Maxim claims it Marketing invented the peanut butter-filled snack back in the 1980s,
and supplied TJs with the top-selling eats for over 25 years. But Trader
Joe's reportedly switched to ConAgra Foods to supply its peanut butter
pretzels, cutting Maxim out in the process. Maxim is suing both Trader
Joe's and ConAgra Foods, "for alleged breach of contract and also alleging the
existence of a peanut butter pretzel monopoly."

Thanks to Trader Joe's "peanut
butter monopoly," Maxim is out $9 million worth of peanut butter pretzel
revenue per year. Since Maxim doesn't own its factories and ConAgra bought up
basically all of the peanut butter pretzel factories in the U.S., the ConAgra and Trader Joe's
have essentially pushed Maxim out of the business altogether.

Posted by Zoe Bain

Zoe fell in love with food at the young age of three while perched on the kitchen counter watching her grandma make apple cake from scratch. Although she loves dining out, Zoe's favorite foods have always been those hand-picked fresh from her family's backyard. She is currently waiting patiently to sample their latest garden additions, yellow raspberries and pineapples. Read More

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